114 MY ESQUIMAU PEOPLE. 



piece of sand-paper, he has carved for me out of a wal- 

 rus tusk. They are cut with great accuracy and 

 taste. He is always eager to serve my wishes in every 

 thing ; and since I never allow zeal to go unrewarded, 

 he is the richer by several red-flannel shirts, and a suit 

 of pilot-cloth clothes. Of course, Hans is jealous. 

 Indeed, it is impossible for me to exhibit any kindness 

 of this sort to any of my Esquimau people without 

 making Hans unhappy. He avoids showing his tem- 

 per openly in my presence, but he gets sulky, and 

 does not hunt, or, if ordered out, he comes home with- 

 out game. He is a type of the worst phase of the 

 Esquimau character. The Esquimaux are indeed a 

 very strange kind of people, and are an interesting 

 study, even more so than my dogs, although they are 

 not so useful ; and then the dog can be controlled 

 with a long whip and resolution, while the human ani- 

 mal cannot be controlled with any thing. They might 

 very properly be called a negative people, in every 

 thing except their unreliability, which is entirely pos- 

 itive ; and yet among themselves they exhibit the sem- 

 blance of virtuous conduct, at least in this : that while 

 in sickness or want or distress they never render vol- 

 untary assistance to each other, yet they do not deny 

 it ; indeed, the active exhibition of service is perhaps 

 wholly unknown or unthought of amongst them ; but 

 they do the next best thing — they never withhold it 

 From the rude hut of the hardy inhabitant of these 

 frozen deserts the unfortunate hunter who has lost his 

 team and has been unsuccessful in the hunt, the un- 

 protected family who have lost their head, even the 

 idle and thriftless, are never turned away ; but they 

 are never invited. They may come, they may use 

 what they find as if they were members of the family, 



